Product monitoring in AutoDS is a set of configurations that allows you to monitor product stock, shipping times, and supplier sources from a single page. By setting the proper product monitoring rules, you can avoid common order issues, prevent overselling, and ensure smoother order fulfillment across your dropshipping business.

Setting up your product monitoring settings in AutoDS helps you to:

Product monitoring settings are managed through the Supplier Settings page in AutoDS. To configure your product monitoring preferences:

In the sections that follow, we detail the specifics of each of these product monitoring configurations within the General and Lister tabs of Supplier Settings.

The monitoring settings section in the General tab of Supplier Settings determines when products are automatically set to On Hold status (quantity 0) in your store. They safeguard you from selling items that could lead to delivery problems or unhappy customers.

Minimum product quantity

Sets products to a quantity of 0 when the supplier's stock falls below your threshold, preventing sales with critically low inventory.

Example: With a minimum of 5 units, if the supplier has only 3, AutoDS pauses the listing. The product remains on hold until stock increases or you manually adjust the setting.

Maximum shipping days

The maximum shipping days definition places products on hold (set to quantity 0) when the estimated delivery time exceeds your set limit. It prevents late arrivals and customer complaints.

The price and stock monitoring feature in the Lister tab of Supplier Settings work together to maintain accurate listings and prevent problematic orders. These product monitoring configurations automatically sync your inventory levels and prices with supplier changes in real-time, ensuring your store always reflects current availability and pricing from your sources.

Let's explore the two main options:

1. Price monitoring

Price monitoring in the Lister tab automatically adjusts your listing prices when supplier prices change, ensuring your profit margins are maintained and preventing losses from unexpected cost increases.

2. Stock monitoring

Stock monitoring in the Lister tab automatically sets products to 'Out of Stock' in AutoDS and your store when suppliers run out of inventory, preventing overselling and order cancellations.

AutoDS monitors product prices and stock levels through scheduled scans conducted approximately every 60 minutes. These scans ensure that your store data stays aligned with supplier updates, although they don’t occur in real-time.

As a result, if a supplier changes the price or stock status of a product after the last scan, that change will only be reflected in your store once the next scheduled scan is completed.

This means that, between scans, there may be a short delay before supplier updates are reflected in your store. AutoDS automatically corrects these differences during the following scheduled scan, ensuring that your listings stay consistently updated and aligned with supplier data.

Here’s a simple example of how a monitoring gap can affect an order:

In this scenario, the order would be fulfilled at a loss because the system was using information from the earlier scan.

While product monitoring in AutoDS works continuously to keep your listings accurate, you can implement additional strategies to minimize the risk of processing orders at a loss or when items are out of stock. These preventive measures provide an extra layer of protection beyond the standard product monitoring configurations in the Lister tab of Supplier Settings.

Strategies to strengthen your product monitoring protection:

1. Use the maximum loss setting

Enable the maximum loss setting in AutoDS to automatically block orders where the source price increase would result in a loss greater than your acceptable threshold.

This prevents you from fulfilling orders that would negatively impact your profit margins due to unexpected supplier price changes between monitoring scans.

3. Increase your profit margin

Consider increasing your profit margin or break-even buffer in the AutoDS pricing settings to absorb price fluctuations between monitoring scans. A higher margin provides cushion against unexpected price changes, reducing the likelihood of processing orders at a loss. This strategy is particularly effective for products sourced from suppliers with volatile pricing.

4. Manually verify availability

If you use manual ordering in AutoDS, verify product availability and pricing on the supplier's website before fulfilling orders. This extra verification step can catch price and stock changes that occurred between product monitoring scans, though it requires more hands-on management of your order fulfillment process.

5. Offer alternatives to buyers

When an item becomes unavailable or too expensive to fulfill profitably, proactively offer alternatives to your buyer. You can suggest processing the order using a different supplier or utilize the AutoDS Sourcing Service, which helps you find alternative sources for the same or similar products while maintaining your profit margins.

6. Open a support ticket

If product monitoring scan data appears inconsistent or if no AutoDS monitoring scan update occurs within 1 hour, open a support ticket with AutoDS support. The support team can investigate specific cases, check monitoring logs, and help resolve unusual situations related to the product monitoring feature in your account.